Dial shogging mechanism for circular knitting machines



T. J. THORE DIAL SHOGGING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 26. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T. J. THORE July 5, 1960 DIAL SHOGGING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULA R KNITTING MACHINES Filed April 26. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent cc 2,943,467

Patented July 5, 1960 DIAL SHOGGING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Thomas I. There, Philadelphia, Pa.,assignor to Fidelity Machine Company, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 26, 1957, Ser. No. 655,256

8 Claims. (CI. 66-15) In the performance of certain knitting operations in circular knitting machines of the dial type, it becomes necessary to shog the dial i.e. to angularly displace the dial with its needles with respect to the cylinder and its complement of needles; These operations and the dial shogging function are conventional and well understood in the art. It is to an improve dial shogging mechanism that the present invention relates.

The details of the mechanism maybe more readily understood by reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

. Fig. 1 is a sectional elevational view of the upper part of a knitting machine comprising the dial shagging mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a section View on the line 22, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 3-3, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4, Fig.2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55, Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6, Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary schematic view showing one arrangement of dial and cylinder needles, and

Fig. '8 is a corresponding view showing the relative positions of the needlesafter shogging.

With reference to the drawings, 1 is the cylinder and 2 the dial of a circular knitting machine. The cylinder needles are shown at 3 and the dial needles at 4. A sinker ring is shown at 5 with associated sinkers 6. In the present instance the dial needles are carried at the lower ends of jacks 7 which are pivotally mounted at 8 in the upper dial member 9,, and which have their upper ends in the dial cam ring 11 for actuation by cams .12 in the latter.

The dial 2 is attached to a radial flange 13 at the lower end of a stub shaft 14 anchored by a screw or screws 15 in the upper dial member 9. The latter member is secured by screws 16 to the lower end of a shaft 17 which is journaled in a spider 18 secured by screws 19 in the fixed frame 21 of the machine, the said shaft being supported through the medium of a collar 22 on an anti-friction bearing 23 seated in the spider. The collar 22 is releasably attached by screw 24 to the shaft. The spider has 2. depending sleeve 25 to which the cam ring 11 is attached by means of a screw 26, said screw passing through a vertical slot 27 in the hub 28 of the ring and thereby affording means for axial adjustment of the ring and retraction of the ring from the upper ends of the jacks 7 for a purpose hereinafter described.

Supported on a shoulder 31 of shaft 17 above the collar 22 is a gear wheel 32 which meshes with a driving pinion 33 on a shaft 34, this shaft extending downwardly for connection in conventional manner to the cylinder driving mechanism (not shown) so that the cylinder and dial may rotate in synchronism. As shown in the drawings, the gear 32 is free to turn on shaft 17, but the gear may be secured to the shaft by set screws 35 when desired. When these screws are released as shown a driving connection is established between the gear and the shaft through the medium of a member 36, secured to the gear by screws 37 and 38, and a split collar 39 clamped to the shaft by clamping screw 41, see Fig. 3, and connected to member 36 through a pin 42 threaded into the member and extending downwardly into an aperture 43 in the collar between opposed set screws 44 and 45 in the latter as best shown in Fig. 6.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the member 36 is formed with a central annular portion 46, which embraces the shaft 17, and approximate radial arms 47 and 48 which project from opposite sides of the portion 46. The screw 37 has an'unthreaded portion 49 which fits an aperture 51 in the arm 47 as a pivot, the screw being shouldered at the lower end 'of the portion 49 and being threaded below into a spoke 52 'of the gear 32. The outer end of arm'48 has a transverse slot 53 which receives the unthreaded portion 54 of screw 38, the lower end of the screw being threaded into spoke 55 of gear 32. The member 36 may thus pivot about the screw 37 within limits imposed by the effective length of the slot 53. A spring 56 tends to retain; the member in the terminal position shown in Fig. 2, this spring being secured at one end to the arm 48 and at the other to the rim of the gear 32. The eccentric relationof the bore 57 of member 46 to the shaft 17 when the member is in this terminal position is shown in Fig. 3.

The member 36 has a shoe 58 secured thereto by screws 59 and 61, said 'shoe having a arcuate edge 62 projecting into the bore 57. A screw 63 in a lug 64 on the body of the member backs the shoe against outward radial thrusts against the edge 62 and provides a means for adjustment of the shoe and of the edge 62 radially of the bore. The function of the shoe will be described below.

Mounted on the tops of posts 65 in the frame of the machine is a spider '66. This spider has a central bore 67 for a conventional toe hold down shaft 68 which extends downwardly through a bore in the shaft 17 and through a similar bore in shaft 14 to the lower side of dial 2. Keyed to the shaft 68 below spider 66 is a collar 69, and this collar is secured by screw 71 to the upper end of shaft 17 so that the shafts while rotating together are free for relative adjustment in axial direction.

On shaft '17 below the collar 69 is a sleeve 72 having an anula'r recess 73 within which is fitted a segmental sleeve adjusting 'shoe 74 through the medium of which the sleeve may beadjusted axially of the shaft as hereinafter described. The sleeve has at its underside an extension 75 including a conical surface 76 and a cylindrical lower terminal end 77 which, as shown in Fig. l, fits within the bore 57 of member 46. The conical surface 76 contacts or lies in immediate proximity to the edge 62 of shoe 58 and if moved downwardly will act as a cam to pivot the member 36 about screw 37 against the pull of spring 56 and, through pin 42 and collar 39 adjust the shaft 17 and dial '2 angularly about the shaft axis with respect to the cylinder 1. It will be apparent that the screws 44 and 45 afford angular adjustment of the dial with respect to the cylinder about the common axis.

The shoe 74 is attached at 78 to the lower end of a link 79 which is pivotally attached to and depends from one end of a lever arm 81. This arm is pivoted to the frame of the machine at 82 and seats at its opposite end on the upper end of a rod 83 slidably supported in the frame. The lower end of rod 83 rests upon an arm 84 of a bell crank lever 85 journaled on a shaft 86 and seating at 87 on the surface of a pattern drum 88 for elevation by a cam 89 on the latter at a predetermined moment in the cyclic operation of the machine. Elevation of the rod 83 rocks the arm 81 clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 1, against the pull of a tensioning spring 91 and depresses the sleeve 72 with resultant shogging of the dial as described.

It will be noted that with the set screws 35 backed oif as illustrated, the angular displacement of the shaft 17 in the shogging operation will have no effect on the position of the gear 32 so that except for the relative angular displacement of dial 2 and cylinder 1 the drive relation between those elements remain unchanged. When no shogging of the dial and cylinder is contemplated the shogging linkage may be disconnected and the screws 35 tightened to secure the gear 32 directly to the shaft.

Fig. 7 shows a needle arrangement suitable for production of a two-by-two rib fabric. In the drawing the dial is indicated by reference numeral 92, the dial needles by numeral 93, and the cylinder needles at 94. In knitting the said fabric the cylinder needles aligned with the dial needles of the respective pairs are inactive, the inactive cylinder needles being indicated in broken lines. Fig. 8 shows the dial shogged from the normal two-bytwo position of Fig. 7 to one-by-one rib position with respect to the active cylinder needles. This is not a normal one-by-one rib needle arrangement but produces a modified one-by-one rib fabric useful, for example, in certain stages of seamless hosiery production on certain types of machine. A machine set up with this dial needle arrangement may be readily adapted for production of a normal one-by-one rib by substitution in the machine of a second dial having a full complement of needles (i.e. as many needles as the cylinder). The machine construction described above is designed to facilitate such substitutions.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that by release of screw 26, the cam ring 11 may be elevated to free the jacks 7 from the cams. Release of split jack-retaining ring 95 permits withdrawal of certain of the jacks and dial needles affording access to screws 16 for freeing the dial member 9 from shaft 17. Release of the screws 96 which secure upper spider 66 to posts 65 and of screw 78 which attaches fork 74 to link 79 will then permit elevation of the shaft 17 axially with the gear 32 and associated elements to an extent clearing the shaft from the upper end of member 9 and thereby freeing member 9 and the attached dial 2 for removal laterally from the machine. Re-assembly with the substituted dial may be effected by reverse operation.

I claim:

1. In a knitting machine comprising cylinder and dial elements, and mechanism for synchronized rotation of said elements, such mechanism including a dial shaft, a driven member journaled on said shaft, a first member secured to the shaft, a second member attached to and 4 relatively movable with respect to the said driven member and operatively connected to the said first member and means including an actuating member moving in synchronism with the said cylinder for relatively adjusting said second member with respect to the driven member to relatively adjust the shaft angularly with respect to the driven member about the common axis.

2. A knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein the second member is pivotally attached to the driven member for movement in a plane normal to the shaft axis, and wherein, further, the means for moving the second member includes a cam element engageable with said member and moving axially of said shaft.

3. A knitting machine according to claim 2 including a spring interposed between the second member and the driven member and tending to draw the second member about the pivot and against the cam element, and means for limiting movement of the member in that direction.

4. A knitting machine according to claim 3 wherein the said cam element is slidably mounted on the shaft.

5 A knitting machine according to claim 4 including pattern mechanism for the machine, and means actuated by said mechanism for adjusting the cam on the shaft.

6. A knitting machine according to claim 4 wherein the said second member comprises an annular mid-section embracing the shaft, and wherein the cam element extends into engagement with the inner periphery of said annular mid-section.

7. A knitting machine according to claim 6 wherein the said second member comprises adjustable means to vary the effective radius of the bore of said annulus in the area of said engagement.

8. A knitting machine comprising a cylinder, a dial, dial needles slidable on said dial, jacks engaging and controlling said needles, an upper dial member supporting said jacks and having a central bore, a stub shaft secured in the lower portion of said dial member supporting the dial therein, a dial shaft secured in the upper portion of the bore of said member, mechanism including devices operatively connected to the dial shaft for synchronous rotation of said dial and cylinder, means for freeing the dial from the dial shaft, and means providing for subsequent axial retraction of the dial shaft with said devices to clear the dial for lateral withdrawal from the machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,503,785 Wawzonek Apr. 11, 1950 2,719,415 Lawson Oct. 4, 1955 2,863,309 Larkin Dec. 9, 1958 

